A violent storm raged outside the window, as if it would tear the world apart.
Inside the master bedroom, however, was a scene of hazy, amber light.
Qin Yu propped himself up with one hand on the headboard, the other on her back, sweat trickling down the lines of his muscles.
He looked up at the digital clock on the wall.
23:59:50.
Ten seconds left.
This round of elimination, known as the "Dark Tide Period," was about to end.
Yao Xue was completely unaware of the passage of time.
But Qin Yu was wide awake.
He was waiting.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
00:00.
The ticking numbers reset to zero.
The once deafening roar of the wind and rain came to a screeching halt, as if a giant, invisible hand had suddenly throttled it.
The sudden, dead silence was more heart-pounding than the roaring had been.
Qin Yu stopped immediately.
He was waiting for the System's notification, for that cold, synthesized voice to announce the rules of the next stage, or perhaps to initiate some new hell mode.
One second.
Two seconds.
The entire world was so quiet that only the sound of their two breaths remained.
No notification.
No announcement.
The System seemed to have crashed, showing no reaction at all.
"Why... did you stop?"
Yao Xue's hazy eyes opened a slit, her voice extremely hoarse.
She was referring to Qin Yu.
And also to the wind and rain outside.
"It's over."
Qin Yu looked down at Yao Xue, a playful arc forming on his lips.
He glanced at the number in the upper right corner of his retina.
The once bright red 33,333 had now turned a bleak gray.
[Current Survivors in the Region: 1,452/33,333]
One thousand four hundred and fifty-two people.
According to the rule of three-person teams, that meant only four hundred and eighty-four teams were left.
A death rate of over ninety percent.
This was a massacre.
A cleansing.
The thousand-plus people who remained were either lucky like him, obtaining powerful items right from the start, or they were ruthless characters who had climbed their way up by stepping on corpses.
"No activity?"
Qin Yu raised an eyebrow.
No new disaster forecast, no new mission issued.
This meant that the next period might be a rare "calm period."
In other words, time to develop.
"Qin Yu..."
Yao Xue didn't seem to care about any System. She squirmed her hips impatiently.
How could this man be zoning out at a time like this?
Since the System wasn't talking.
It was time to get back to business.
"Focus."
"Weren't you just crying about being tired?"
"You look pretty energetic to me now."
Yao Xue let out a soft moan.
"I... I can still go on..."
Since she didn't die in the mouth of a monster.
Then she might as well die here.
On this deathly silent sea.
This was the only sign of life.
...
The next morning.
Sunlight streamed through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, shining on the pure white wool carpet.
The sea was as blue as a giant gemstone.
Not a ripple in sight.
If not for the occasional broken planks and bloated corpses floating on the surface, last night's storm would have seemed like just a nightmare.
The aroma of rice porridge wafted from the dining room.
The bok choy grown in S-Grade Fertile Soil was finely chopped and sprinkled into the thick white porridge, served with two fried eggs, golden-brown, and a plate of sliced wild boar leg.
This breakfast.
It would be considered exquisite in civilized society, and it was the height of luxury in this apocalypse.
Yao Xue, wearing an apron, was setting the table.
She wore a white shirt, the hem tied in a knot, revealing her slender waist.
Her hair was casually tied up at the back of her head.
Her face had the rosy glow of someone who had been well-nourished, her skin so good it seemed to shine. She looked both gentle and alluring.
It was a charm the former ice-cold doctor completely lacked.
"Morning."
Qin Yu walked out of the master bedroom, looking refreshed.
He pulled out a chair, sat down, and took a sip of hot S-Grade Purified Water.
"Morning."
Yao Xue placed a bowl of porridge in front of him, her gaze so gentle it could almost drip water.
Just then.
"Creaak—"
The door to the second bedroom opened.
Yao Qian floated out like a ghost.
She had two huge dark circles under her eyes, her hair was a messy bird's nest, and her steps were unsteady, even staggering.
Her pink pajamas were wrinkled.
Her entire being exuded a thick air of listlessness.
"Morning..."
Her voice was weak, as if she had just crawled out of a coffin.
"Qianqian?"
Yao Xue was startled and quickly put down the plate in her hands to walk over.
"What's wrong with you? You look so pale."
"Are you sick?"
She reached out to touch Yao Qian's forehead.
Yao Qian flinched back as if electrocuted, dodging Yao Xue's hand.
Her eyes darted around.
She didn't dare to look Yao Xue in the eye.
Even less did she dare to look at the several obvious, dark red hickeys on Yao Xue's neck.
That was the evidence.
And the source of her fantasies and sleepless night.
"No... I'm not sick."
Yao Qian lowered her head, clutching the hem of her clothes, her knuckles turning white.
"I just... I just didn't sleep well."
"Didn't sleep well?"
Yao Xue was a little confused.
"This room is very soundproof. It was so quiet after the storm stopped last night. Are you having trouble sleeping in a new bed?"
Yao Qian's face flushed beet red.
Quiet?
Sis, are you pretending you don't know, or do you really not know?
The room's soundproofing is good.
But it couldn't stop me from listening at the door all night!
You had a good time.
I, on the other hand, suffered greatly.
"Um... yeah... I had a nightmare."
Yao Qian hastily made up an excuse, quickly pulled out a chair to sit down, and buried her head in her porridge bowl, desperately slurping it down.
As if this bowl of porridge was her lifeline.
"Slow down, it's hot."
Qin Yu glanced at her, a smile on his lips.
He had a rough idea of what had happened.
Given the noise last night, even with good soundproofing, it would be strange if a girl of Yao Qian's age and curiosity didn't eavesdrop.
But he didn't care.
He even found it a little interesting.
In this apocalypse, things like ethics and morals would eventually be broken.
Adapting early wasn't a bad thing for her.
"Cough, cough..."
Yao Qian choked on her porridge, coughing until her face was red.
She secretly raised her eyelids and glanced at Qin Yu.
Her eyes met Qin Yu's teasing gaze.
Her heart panicked.
She quickly buried her head again.
It's over.
Brother Qin Yu definitely knows.
How can I ever face anyone again!
"Eat up."
Qin Yu tapped the table, breaking the subtle, awkward atmosphere.
"You need to eat to have the strength to work."
"Although the Dark Tide Period is over, it doesn't mean we're safe."
He opened the System panel.
While eating his fried egg, he checked the latest data.
[Current Survivors in the Region: 1,452]
The number hadn't changed.
It seemed that after midnight last night, it was indeed a safe period.
He opened the leaderboard.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
He was still in first place by a landslide, which was no surprise.
But the data for second place had changed.
[Second Place: Li Ruobing]
[Raft Level: Small Sailing Boat (Modified)]
[Area: 100 square meters]
[Defense Assessment: C-Grade (Frost Armor/Fine Steel Spikes)]
[Comprehensive Score: 450]
One hundred square meters.
From yesterday's twenty-four square meters, it had exploded to its current size overnight.
And the defense assessment had gone from "None" to "C-Grade," and she even had an additional "Frost Armor."
"Interesting."
Qin Yu put down his chopsticks and rubbed his chin.
Expanding to one hundred square meters required a significant amount of wood and ore.
Even with three people tirelessly fishing for chests, it would be impossible to gather it all overnight.
Unless...
"She also had some kind of fortuitous encounter."
Or some kind of special awakened talent.
Her name was Li Ruobing, and her defense was Frost Armor.
She most likely got something from a supply island.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing Qin Yu's serious expression, Yao Xue also leaned over to take a look.
When she saw the "100 square meters," she was also stunned for a moment.
"This Li Ruobing... how is she so fast?"
"Yesterday it was just over twenty square meters, how did it suddenly..."
"Just lucky, that's all."
Qin Yu closed the leaderboard, his tone calm.
"In this world, besides us, there are billions of other people."
"There are bound to be a few chosen ones."
"It's nothing to be surprised about."
He wasn't worried.
One hundred square meters might be a behemoth in others' eyes.
But in front of his eight-hundred-square-meter Presidential Suite, it was just a slightly larger sampan.
What's more.
He had the Deep-sea Guardian, the Deep Sea Specter, the T-X Harvester, and that heaven-defying Daily Lottery System.
This was an absolute generational gap.
"Ignore her."
Qin Yu stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.
He looked out at the sea, which was so calm it was almost eerie.
"As long as she doesn't come looking for trouble with me, she can do whatever she wants."
"But if she dares to reach her hand over here..."
Qin Yu's eyes turned cold.
"I'll let her know how ice shatters."
He turned around and looked at Yao Qian, who was still burying her head in her porridge, and Yao Xue, who had a worried expression.
He clapped his hands.
"Alright, stop spacing out."
"After we eat, we need to start the next phase of our plan."
"Next phase?"
Yao Xue looked up.
"Mhm."
Qin Yu pointed at the floor beneath his feet.
"We have the ship, we have defenses, and we have a living area."
"Next, we need to solve the most crucial problem."
"Propulsion."
A ship this big couldn't just drift.
To seize the initiative in this apocalyptic ocean, they had to make it move.
And it had to be fast.
"Yao Qian."
Qin Yu suddenly called her name.
"Ah?!"
Yao Qian jumped in fright, nearly sending her spoon flying.
"Wh-what is it, Brother Qin Yu?"
"Stop playing dead."
Qin Yu looked at her quail-like demeanor, not knowing whether to laugh or be angry.
"After you finish eating, go move all the unopened treasure chests from the automatic fishing net to the deck."
"We're opening blind boxes today."
"Let's see if we can get what we need."
Hearing "opening blind boxes."
Yao Qian's eyes finally lit up, and the awkwardness she felt dissipated quite a bit.
This was her favorite part.
"Okay! I'll go right now!"
She pushed her bowl away and fled towards the warehouse downstairs as if escaping.
As long as she didn't have to stay under the same roof with those two.
She was willing to do hard labor.
Watching her sister's fleeing back, Yao Xue sighed.
"This girl..."
"Does she know something?"
Yao Xue might be innocent, but she wasn't stupid.
Qin Yu walked up behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and rested his chin on her fragrant shoulder.
"So what if she knows?"
"In this world, the th
ree of us are each other's only support."
"She'll have to get used to it sooner or later."
He whispered in Yao Xue's ear.
The warm breath tickled her earlobe.
Yao Xue's body went soft, and her face turned as red as a ripe apple.
"You... don't mess around."
"It's broad daylight..."
Qin Yu smiled and let go.
"Don't worry, I know my limits."
"Let's go, let's see how our luck is."
"If we can open an engine, tonight..."
Qin Yu paused, his gaze turning suggestive.
"I'll give you an extra serving."
Yao Xue shot him a fierce glare.
But there was no longer any trace of an ice queen in that look.
It was clearly a pool of spring water.